Holland America is building a $20 million, 135-room lodge, while Princess Lodges is spending more than $50 million to add 166 new rooms and another restaurant to its Denali facility.

When the cruise season opens in May, Denali Princess will be the largest hotel in the state, with a total of 651 rooms, said Darren Nolan, vice president of the Princess hotel operations and development division.

The Anchorage Hilton Hotel, with 605 rooms, will fall to No. 2.

Princess is also expanding its McKinley Princess Lodge, located near Talkeetna. The $20 million project will add a restaurant and 126 new rooms to the lodge, bringing the total to 460.

Princess currently has five lodges and one employee housing facility in the state.

Holland America's project is the first in a series of phases that could become a nearly 10-year, $100 million investment, if tourism to the area continues to grow. The next step would be to add another 135 rooms and a restaurant, said Steve Leonard of the company's hotel division.

A final lodge could include 570 rooms, as well as eating establishments, gift shops and a large lobby area.

Aramark, a known concessionaire and hotel owner in Alaska, will manage Holland's new lodge.

In related news, a spokeswoman for Cook Inlet Region Inc., an Alaska Native regional corporation, said the company's board of directors had not yet decided whether to build a lodge on land near Denali that it already owns.

CIRI has seen some success in its hotel, casino and other land holdings, much of which is in the Lower 48.

Barbara Donatelli, senior vice president of CIRI's administration and government relations division, said the board is wary of the fast-rising construction and materials costs, and is waiting for the market to stabilize before making a decision.